The ISIS Gambit

XXXVII

“Archangel, this is Desert Hawk Two-Six,” the AWACS operator called to the US Central Command headquarters. “We’ve got radar contacts leaving Batman air force base on an east bound heading. Designating this as Raid One.”

“Desert Hawk Two-Six, I thought we took out that base.”

“Archangel, all of those planes got out just as the attack started. I’m counting forty-two planes in total. It looks to be two tanker aircraft and forty F-16s. Current heading is zero-nine-seven at 522 knots.”

“East-bound? That doesn’t make any sense. Desert Hawk, keep watching these guys. We need to make sure they aren’t trying some type of end-around on us. If they break from this course in any direction, I want to know about it.”

“Copy that, Archangel.”

“Ahmad, have you heard what’s going on? There seems to be a lot more activity than usual around here tonight.”

“I’m not sure, though something’s going on, Doctor,” Kayani’s assistant replied. “Ever since those two guards went missing this morning, this place has been on edge. The last I heard, neither one of them has been found. Now, we’re hearing of American paratroopers across the river.”

“What? Why wasn’t I told? Have the guards been increased around this building?”

“I don’t believe so. I believe they felt it was more important to keep the Americans out of the city than to simply increase the security here. If we can’t keep the Americans out of the city, a few extra guards here is pointless.”

“Oh, okay, thank you, Ahmad, that makes sense. You’ve done good work here.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ahmad replied.

“With everything you’ve done here, I think we should be able to get another batch ready for transport. Actually, we could look at flying them out tonight or first thing in the morning since we have the C-130 available that I flew in on.”

“I think flying them out tonight might be the better option with American paratroopers on the edge of town. Does General Shishani know we’d like to fly them out tonight?”

“Not yet, I didn’t realize just how much work you were able to accomplish. Let’s finish up this last one and then we can tell General Shishani together.”

“How we looking over there?” Stonewall asked Arielle. She’d been looking through her rifle scope analyzing the target layout.

“There’s still a bunch over there but they haven’t reinforced the guards since the Rangers landed. They obviously want to keep them from crossing the river. I’ve got six in front and then I’ve seen two roaming from front to back. Falcon, how’s the back look?”

“Just like they have all day — six in back, plus a couple more roaming the motor pool.”

“Okay, so basically eight each in front and back,” Arielle said. “Taking the front six out shouldn’t be too hard. We should be able to do that with two quick sniper shots from each of us.”

“Oh yeah, and with all the commotion right now, those guys inside probably won’t even notice,” Stonewall replied.

“We’ll need to be ready for the two roamers coming back, though,” Falcon added. “I’ll alert my team to be prepared to take out the guards in the rear.

“Roger that,” Arielle replied. “Okay, on my mark… three, two, one, fire.” And with that three 7.62 rounds leaped from each of their rifles and dropped the first three guards. Five seconds later, the remaining three guards met the same fate as their compatriots.

“Okay, I’ve got one guard coming around the east side,” Arielle whispered.

“And, here comes his friend,” Falcon added.

“Ready, fire!” Jackson quietly ordered.

“Let’s get over there and see what we have inside before they realize their guards are gone.”

“Chaos, my team’s reporting the back has been cleared as well,” Falcon added. “We’re all clear.”

“Okay, there’s Kayani and that one there must be his main assistant,” Arielle relayed to Stonewall as she peered through a window. “It looks like they’re talking to someone on a speaker phone or something.”

“They must have doubled the guards since this morning. I’m seeing what looks like six guards: one in the office, three watching something on the TV and then two more with Kayani.”

“Cougar must be starting his attack,” Arielle added as half a dozen A-10s flew overhead just as the sound of several explosions thundered from a couple miles away. Seconds later, four Apache gunships flew over, headed towards both of the bridges, the sound of their rotors completely drowned out by the rumble of the ordinance dropped by the A-10s.

“Okay, Viking will be here in fifteen, twenty minutes tops,” Stonewall commented. “Everyone ready?”

“General Shishani, Ahmad was able to get a lot more work done than I had expected. We actually have another batch of eight more bombs we could fly out tonight if your plane and pilot is available.”

“That is very good news, Doctor. How soon do you think you’d be ready to get them loaded?”

“We could actually start very soon. We just finished the last one for this batch and all of the bombs are on the racks, so, maybe fifteen minutes.”

“Excellent. I will let General Van know. With what is going on with the Americans, I’d like to get them moved as soon as possible. Thank you, Dr. Kayani.”

“Kayani has another batch ready to move?” General Van asked Shishani.

“He does. How soon can you get the plane warmed up?”

“I’ll call over there right away and have the crew get started on it. If Kayani can have the bombs moved over to the plane, I would think we could be airborne in twenty minutes.”

“Leaving us so soon, General Van?” Colonel Marshall asked him. Clearly, the Colonel’s spirit had not been damaged a bit, despite the physical beating she had taken. “It would seem that the party’s just getting started.”

“As much as I would love to stay and ‘party’ with you and the Secretary, we have a few more of your bombs to fly out of here.”

“And just where do you think you can take them? I believe we just destroyed at least one of your bases. Do you really think we won’t do the same to any other bases you might have, that is, if we haven’t already?”

“Basing locations are not a problem, Colonel. General,” Van said as he turned towards Shishani, “I’ll see about the plane, and the cargo, and then be back in the morning.”

“Excellent, I assume you’ll be taking Doctor Kayani with you? I’m thinking he’ll need to work on the next group of fighters as well, correct?”

“That’s my understanding,” Van replied. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Falcon, Arielle and I will go in the back from the loading dock area. I’d like you and two of your men to come in the front door. The back of the warehouse has a fair amount of concealment with all of the pallets of weapons and ammunition so give us a few minutes to get inside and get into position. When you guys make your entrance, we should be able to catch them in a pretty serious cross-fire. The guards will clearly see you make your entrance. They shouldn’t be able to see us. Okay, its 1845 now. Go ahead and make your entrance at 1850 unless you hear otherwise from me.”

“Roger that, let’s go boys,” Falcon said to his two teammates.

“Archangel, Desert Hawk Two-Six, Raid One has continued east bound and is now just crossing over the Caspian Sea.”

“Desert Hawk, have they made any course adjustment of any kind?”

“Only slightly, Archangel, they’ve been on course zero-eight-seven for roughly the last half hour. Looks like they were trying to skirt Iranian air space. We’re at the edge of our range so we’ll lose them pretty soon. At this point, we’re dropping the Raid One designation.”

“Roger that, but keep an eye out for these guys. I don’t want them sneaking back into our radar envelope undetected.”

“You ready for this?” Jackson asked Dani.

“Just a walk in the park, right?” Arielle replied as she tightened her pony-tail. “Is that a C-130 I hear over there? Viking hasn’t landed, has he?”

“No, they haven’t. Nightwatch would have said something. Something else must be going on. We better hurry.”

“Okay, let’s do this.”

“Ahmad, go get the tractor out in the yard so we can start moving these bombs. Grab one of the guards to help you,” Kayani ordered. “We need to get these over to the airstrip right away. I’ll get one of the trucks as soon I have the rest of the electronics needed to retrofit the next group of fighters.”

“Right away. It sounds like General Van already has the C-130 warming up,” Ahmad replied as he raised the overhead door that led to the loading dock.

“Whoa, Stonewall, someone’s coming out!” Arielle warned as he started to enter the rear side door.

“Any chance you can….” was all that Stonewall got out. The guard hadn’t taken more than a few steps out of the loading dock when he noticed both Jackson and Arielle. Arielle dropped the guard with a quick burst from her HK MP-5 submachine gun as he reached for his gun, too late. Two seconds later, Ahmad met the same fate as the guard.

“Falcon, we’re blown! We need help, now!” Jackson ordered over the radio.

“Here come his friends,” Stonewall warned Arielle as they both ran into the warehouse seeking shelter amongst the pallets of weapons and ammunition.

“On the way,” Falcon replied. “You’ve got five more guards headed your way — Arielle, two of them are almost on top of you.”

“I got ‘em,” Arielle replied, as she stepped out from shelving stacks of weapons crates, hitting both guards with a long burst from her HK submachine gun. Almost immediately, Falcon and his men opened up on the remaining three guards, cutting them down from the rear in a classic ambush. Within fifteen seconds of entering the warehouse, Doctor Mohammed Kayani was the only one left alive in the warehouse.

“Who… who are you?” Kayani stammered.

“Does it matter? What happened to the other eight bombs?” Arielle asked.

“We took them up to Batman. They’ve been retrofitted and the raid has already taken off. I’m afraid you’re too late,” Kayani replied rather smugly.

“And, what’s the target?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Well, I’m afraid you won’t be around to see your handiwork,” Arielle replied as she put two rounds into his chest.

“Okay, let’s get all of these things loaded up. We’ve got a plane to catch,” Stonewall ordered. Falcon already had his men in the trucks with one of them already backed up to the loading dock, as Arielle took a quick look around to check on the status of all of the nukes.

“Mahdi flight, execute.” And with that forty-two aircraft, late of the Turkish air force, took a new heading, bearing one-seven-four. Desert Hawk Two-Six picked up the transmission but the flight was now more than 300 miles away.